Did you guys catch Simon Cowell on This Is Your Life tonight? It’s no secret that we think Simon’s the lord and master of TV talent shows, so it was nice to see the tables being turned on him for once!

Trevor MacDonald managed to snare Simon at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood during the live American Idol final. Simon admitted that he hadn’t got a clue what was happening, even when he saw Trevor with the Big Red Book! Here’s the moment it all happened:

Tonight’s show was an amazing mix of funny guest slots and some slightly sickening sycophantic moments from folks who presumably need to stay on Simon’s good side. Like Shayne Ward, for example.

Funniest moments were Ricky Gervais’s introduction which finished by mentioning some of the people Simon hadn’t stuck by during his career – Rik Waller, Kate Thornton and Louis Walsh. The next guest to appear on stage? Why, Mr Walsh of course! It’s all good though, Simon apologised live on stage, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be working together (on-screen, at least) in the foreseeable future…

Ben Elton – who’s used Simon as the inspiration for his new book – did a great and scathing speech, and started off a stream of comments about Simon’s self-love:

To Simon Cowell, masturbation isn’t about self-abuse – it’s about fidelity!

This was followed-up later by Paula Abdul: “Simon’s the only person who calls out his own name during sex…”

We also got to hear (via Max Clifford) about Simon’s decent work for char-i-dee.

But, best of all was the performance by Il Divo. Well, not Il Divo, but the fact that Leona Lewis sang on-stage with them. Even Simon was surprised by the appearance. Let me tell you folks, Leona Lewis is dynamite! I still have chills running down my spine and the show was half-an-hour ago! Hopefully this appears on YouTube in the next few days.

Perhaps the most touching moment was when Trevor talked about Simon’s father and his influence on his early career. Apparently his father advised him to release Swear It Again as Westlife’s debut single. Simon looked genuinely touched at this point: he looked and sounded emotional as he talked about this part of his life story.

Great show, and congratulations to Simon on his This Is Your Life appearance!